Ben Self is the former chairman of the

Kentucky Democratic Party The Kentucky Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It is currently the minority party in the state, as the rival Republican Party of Kentucky overwhelmingly dominates in the state legislature, ...

, having been elected in November 2017. He was a co-founder for digital strategy firm

Blue State Digital Blue State Digital is an adtech that specializes in online fundraising, and campaign consultancy. The company was founded by 4 former staffers of the Howard Dean 2004 presidential campaign. The company became notable after providing digital stra ...

and is co-founder of West Sixth Brewery in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city coterminous with and the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the city's population was 322,570, making it the List of ...

Early life

He grew up in Lexington his entire youth and after graduating from high school, went off to

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

to study electrical engineering and computer science at

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

, graduating with a bachelor's in 1999 and completing a master's in 2000. After university, Self moved to the

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

suburbs, starting a job as a government IT consultant for now-defunct

American Management Systems American Management Systems, Inc., was a high-technology and management consulting firm, founded in 1970 by a group of five former United States Department of Defense, Defense Department officials who had worked under Robert McNamara in the John F ...

Dean Campaign & Blue State Digital

His shifted industries when he departed professional consulting and volunteered for the Howard Dean presidential campaign, starting in the fall of 2003. Because of the application of new media and digital to political campaigns, in a 2011 interview with

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

's One-on-One, Self stated "we didn't know at the time, but twas changing the world of politics forever." It was on the ill-fated, but technologically progressive campaign that he crossed paths with Jascha Franklin-Hodge, Clay Johnson, and

Joe Rospars Joe Rospars (born 15 April 1981) is one of the founders of Blue State Digital and formerly the "Chief Strategist" for Elizabeth Warren's 2020 presidential campaign. Rospars was the New Media Director for Barack Obama's presidential campaigns in ...

. The four of them would go on to found

following the end of the Dean campaign in early 2004, to commercialize the technology powering the campaign and apply them to Democratic political campaigns and causes around the United States. He remained a partner in the firm while serving as the

Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the principal executive leadership board of the United States's Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. According to the party charter, it has "general responsibility for the affairs of the ...

's (DNC) technology director from 2005 to 2009. As director, he oversaw the overhaul of critical platforms to help power the Democrats to regaining the majority in Congress during the United States elections of 2006. His final year at the DNC, he and his team helped support the presidential campaign for Barack Obama, in partnership with his firm, Blue State Digital and the technology staff for the campaign. He left the DNC following Obama's first inauguration, spending a little over a year working back with his company. His final year involved work in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

to help then-prime minister

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian diplomat and former politician who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and June to September 2013. He held office as the Leaders of the Australian Labo ...

engage the public and use technology in political campaigns.

After Blue State Digital

In January 2010, he sold his stake in Blue State Digital and planted himself full-time back in his hometown of Lexington. While living in Kentucky, he founded a brewery, West Sixth Brewery. Self is a native of and currently lives in Lexington with his wife, Becca, and their two children.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Self, Ben 1977 births Kentucky Democrats Living people MIT School of Engineering alumni People from Lexington, Kentucky State political party chairs of Kentucky